


Not a Love Story

by quietly_desperate



Series: 15 Days of Fics [2]
Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: Angst, Clay Jensen Needs a Hug, Clay’s overwhelmed, Hurt/Comfort, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Platonic Cuddling, Poor Tony, Protective Tony Padilla, Things aren’t that great for anyone right now, Tony’s there to help, poor Clay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24735646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietly_desperate/pseuds/quietly_desperate
Summary: 2am had never been a good time for Clay, especially after everything that had happened with Hannah.Tony thought he knew how to help. He was starting to doubt that.•••”Is there any particular reason as to why you’re blasting music at two in the morning as you lie on your floor and cry, or am I supposed to guess?””I didn’t ask you to come,” Clay snapped. “I was fine by myself.”
Relationships: Clay Jensen/Tony Padilla
Series: 15 Days of Fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1787188
Kudos: 63





	Not a Love Story

**Author's Note:**

> They don’t have an account, but this is dedicated to S, for always supporting me and helping me to be the best version of myself. I hope you enjoy x
> 
> This is short and not so sweet.

Tony got the call at quarter to one. 

Except, he missed it, because he was too busy smoking up a storm to forget all the stupid, shitty things Brad said not two hours ago that mother -

When he finally got around to checking his phone, Tony was surprised to see who had called. It’s been a while since Clay had called him in the middle of the night. They were a frequent occurrence before, when everything with Hannah was still fresh, but now....now, things had settled. Or so Tony thought. 

His initial response was to jump in his car and head straight to Clay’s place, but he stoped himself before he could leave his room. After all, maybe Clay had called him on accident. Maybe this was nothing more than a stupid butt dial at two in the morning. Unlikely, but one never knew. 

So he picked up his phone instead and called Clay back, only for it to ring out. Now that was weird. Clay almost always picked up. Tony tried again. This time, his call was sent straight to voicemail. That was definitely unusual. 

Tony waited five minutes to see if Clay called back. When there wasn’t a peep to be heard, he tried calling again. Just like before, the call was sent straight to voice mail. Tony growled and threw his phone across his room. God fucking dammit, Clay. 

In the end, he resulted to calling back once more and leaving a voicemail. 

_”Listen, Clay, you called me half an hour ago, and I’ve tried to called back but you’re not picking up. If you get this, I’m on my way to your place. You better not be fucking dead, Jensen.”_

Tony’s heart was pounding in his chest as he made his way to the Jensen household. The act of driving there in the middle of the night set off a bunch of rather unpleasant memories to fill his mind. He meant what he said in the voicemail - he really hoped Clay wasn’t dead, because that was the last thing anyone needed right now. This all better have been some stupid midnight prank call. 

None of the lights were on when Tony pulled up. Even Clay’s room was dark, which didn’t make much sense, because the boy could hardly do anything when it was too dark, let alone make a phone call. The realisation made Tony’s blood run cold. 

_Pull yourself together, idiota. He’s probably just asleep._

Clay definitely wasn’t asleep. Not if you didn’t count lying on the floor with a blanket and pillows surrounding you as The Stone Roses blasted through a speaker. Yeah, that definitely didn’t scream REM Cycle.

”Clay!” Tony yelled over the noise. “Clay!”

The music was too loud. Tony had no idea what the fuck was going on, so he did the only logical thing he could think of. He found the speaker sitting on Clay’s desk and turned it off with a screeching beep.

”What the hell?” Clay said as he sat up. His eyes locked onto Tony, and he screamed in response, throwing a pillow afterwards. “What the fuck?!”

”Clay, calm down, it’s me,” Tony said

”Yeah, no shit.”

It occurred to Tony that Clay was crying. He couldn’t hear it before, because of the music, and before Clay had sat up, the moonlight hadn’t provided enough light for him to see the tear tracks streaking down his friend’s face. God, Tony hadn’t seen Clay this distraught in months.

”How did you get in here?” Clay asked. “Why are you here?”

”You called me.” Tony held up his phone. “At one forty-five. I tried calling you back but you weren’t answering, so I drove over and climbed through your window.”

Clay rolled his eyes. “My knight in shining armour.”

Tony snickered. At least Clay hadn’t lost his sarcasm.

”Is there any particular reason as to why you’re blasting music at two in the morning as you lie on your floor and cry, or am I supposed to guess?”

”I didn’t ask you to come,” Clay snapped. “I was fine by myself.”

”You certainly don’t seem that way,” Tony replied. “What’s going on?”

Clay was silent for a while, letting tears roll down his cheeks without trying to hide them or wipe them away. In all their years of friendship, Tony had never felt so lost on what to do. He had dealt with a multitude of Clay’s emotions, but this was so out of character for him.

The only logical thing Tony could think to do was to hug Clay, so he got down behind him and pulled him back into his chest. Clay fell back without complaint, only sniffing and snuggling further into Tony’s chest.

”What’s going on, _nene_? I’ve never seen you like this.”

”Sometimes things are too much,” Clay said into the darkness. He wiped his eyes. “I think about everything that’s gone on - the tapes and Hannah and Bryce and all the other bullshit, and I wonder if we’ll ever make it out alive.”

”Why wouldn’t we?” Tony asked. “We’ve gotten this far, haven’t we?”

”That’s easy for you to say. You have the easy job. The rest of us, we’re all fucked.”

That wasn’t true at all. Tony certainly didn’t have it easy. Some nights he wondered why he bothered at all, but then he thought of moments like these, holding Clay and comforting him, forgetting the world outside existed as they existed in the dark, and it made all the pain and hurt worth it.

He knew he should have told Clay that he was wrong. He should have spoken up and reminded him that his life was no sunshine and rainbows. But he didn’t have it in him. Tony was too content to just sit and breathe. He wasn’t in the mood for an argument.

”You know I’ll always be here for you,” he said. “You say the word and I’ll drop everything for you. It’s always been like that. You don’t have to go through this alone.”

Clay’s shoulders shook against Tony’s chest as he started crying harder. Tony could only rock them back and forth and try to calm the distraught boy in his arms.

”You’re okay. You’re safe and alive and you’re okay. You always have been and you always will be.”

”Do you promise?” Clay said, voice broken.

”Always,” Tony promised.

When Clay’s sobs slowed down into quiet hiccups, Tony gently guided him towards his bed. He tucked Clay in, making sure he was comfortable and warm, then took a seat at the end of the bed. The amount of déjà vu he was experiencing was overwhelming. It was just like the good old days.

”I did call you,” Clay said. “When you didn’t answer, I freaked out and turned my phone off. I don’t know what happened, it was as if a hole was opening up in my chest and all I could think about was everyone I loved dying. I thought you were dead.”

”I’m very much alive,” Tony said with a smile. “I’m not going anywhere. Nobody else is dead, either. Your thoughts are just loud tonight and that’s okay. I’ll stay until they quieten down.”

Clay shuffled out his arm from other the covers and blindly reached for Tony’s hand. When he found it, he held on for dear life and squeezed multiple times.

”Thank you. For always being there for me.”

”Anytime, Clay. No matter what.”

He drifted off not too long after, his grip on Tony’s hand loosening until he let go completely. Tony stood up with a sigh. At least he’d managed to get Clay back to sleep.

He snuck back out through the front door, certain Clay’s parents were awake from the music but trying his best to keep quiet anyway. It was nearing four o’clock and any rest they could get now was better than nothing.

There was something sort of heartbreaking about the way Clay reacted to Hannah’s death. It wasn’t just about her, it turned into a mass suicide of everyone he loved. Tony had thought that those thoughts and ideologies weren’t as popular and strong in his mind, but if tonight was any example of what was going on in Clay’s active brain, he was obviously still struggling with those thoughts.

Tony could only do so much. He could hold Clay, support him through all the twists and turns that life seemed to throw at him, hold him until he stopped shaking, but in the end, he wasn’t Superman. Sometimes things were bigger than what anyone could understand, and that was okay. It was just hard to try and explain that to someone who wasn’t ready to hear it yet.

With the night slowly coming to a close, Tony hopped back into his car and peeled away from the verge. He may have been able to save Clay before, but he was scared that he may not be able to do it anymore.

Tony was running out of time. 


End file.
